The Rise & Fall of the Double Album 

Thank you everyone for all the comments! I'm pretty blown away by them. A few blanket responses. I'm a big fan of Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" -- I sort of predicted I'd get mildly roasted for not having it in here, but that's not why I didn't include it. I nearly had it at 10, but I simply prefer the Jimi album. If I did the video over again, I would have mentioned it somewhere. A lot of people have me thinking I needed to mention "Freak Out!" by the Mothers of Invention. I'll admit, I didn't realize it came out only a week after "Blonde on Blonde." Impressive. I've not historically been a big Zappa fan -- I think there are kazoos on that album? That is sometimes hard to take. But if memory serves, the vocal interplay of "Motherly Love" really cracks me up. Obviously been awhile. Obviously should have mentioned this too. Lastly, out of respect to many comments here, I just went out and FINALLY got a copy of "Trout Mask Replica" by Capt Beefheart today (a first pressing for $45 -- not bad). I've heard the album over the years, but not intimately familiar with it. Or in fact much of his full catalog. I'll be listening. "Top Albums" is very subjective. I usually approach such lists as a combination of "great" -- meaning successful (a mix of sales/influence) -- AND "favorite." Lists can be silly, I know. But I've made lists like my Top 10 Double Albums here since I was about 14. They always change. This will change. Thank you for all the input and ideas! -R

So, it's not really Billy Joel's fault, it's Sony's fault

I consider All Things Must Pass a double album with a bonus album. Maybe it's cheating, but that's my number 1.

Allow me to be the first to say STEVIE WONDER'S SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE. I get that this is more of a rock and alternative crowd here, but I would put this album up there on any list for the greatest album ever. Everything Stevie was working on since he was allowed to write and produce his own music comes to full fruition on SITKOL. Soulful, unashamedly mixing politics with faith, jazz with pop, musicianship with studio craftsmanship, and at the center of it all is one of the singular geniuses of 20th Century popular music at the height of his creative powers.

Don't claim to be an audiophile, but my favorite double album is ELO "Out of the Blue", all solid songs, many hits and singles.

That was well done. Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a great double album. Physical Graffiti is my favourite, though.

The White Album, All Things Must Pass, Exile On Main St, Quadrophenia, The Wall and London Calling are my top choices!

A small correction is that audio CDs do have a time limit (usually 74 minutes to 80 minutes). Funnily enough this was also dictated by classical music -- the wife of Sony's CEO was prompted to chime in as to what should be the standard CD length and apparently she proposed that it should accommodate a whole performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony by Herbert Von Karajan (clocking in at 74 minutes). I do think a few artists make really good use of this format eg. Tool with their album Lateralus (79min:58s longs and not a note wasted!)

Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” is up there among the greatest double albums… and also included a bonus 4-track EP!

The first three Chicago albums were double LPs. Then they put out a 4 LP live boxed set.

10) Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan 9) Exile On Main Street - Rolling Stones 8) Heaven And Earth - Kamasi Washington 7) Warehouse: Songs & Stories - Husker Du 6) The Wall - Pink Floyd 5) The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - Genesis 4) Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin 3) The White Album - Beatles 2) Exile In Guyville - Liz Phair 1) Quadrophenia - The Who

Yes - tales from Topographic Oceans!

Let’s not forget about the Cure’s 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, arguably even better than ‘89’s Disintegration.

Double Nickels is a masterpiece!

The Clash followed up “London Calling”, less than a year later, with the triple album “Sandinista”. But my pick for best double album is Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music”.

As a kid I thought The Smiths Louder Than Bombs was a double album until I found out much later it was more or less a compilation. Runs so well. Aphex Twin Ambient Works Vol 2 and a lot of Autechre LPs needed to be their length.

Minutemen! Hell yeah, wasn’t expecting that as #1, well done sir.

The term “album” comes from the time of the old 78 RPMs…since they were brief and numerous, in order to listen to a complete music work retailers would sell sleeve books with paper pockets to place the records, pretty much like you would placr pictures on a photo ALBUM. When LPs came around, the term album stuck.

I’m a simple man. I see the fleurdelisé, I hit subscribe.

Bruce Springsteen's The River should be included( at least near the bottom half of the Top 10). It set the stage for the 80's sounds and was a proto type for his biggest album Born In The USA

You earned a subscriber with this video. While I already knew most of the info here , you brought up some stuff I didn’t know about. Very informative. I’m also thrilled that you brought up one of the greatest punk bands of all time, Minutemen. Double Nickels on the Dime is one of my favorite albums, and my favorite Minutemen album. The music video for “This Ain’t No Picnic” was insanely creative, especially for such a low-budget type band. I must say, though, that Minutemen’s final studio album, 3 Way Tie (For Last) is an extremely close second for best Minutemen album. Oh, and for the record, I do think Billy Joel’s 52nd Street is a good album. The bass line in Zanzibar alone is enough to make it a solid album.

I think there's something that you're not taking into account. In the 60's and 70's, when albums were 30-40 minutes long, bands were releasing 1-2 albums per year. Today, there are a select few that still do that, but most artists only release an album every 2-5 years. Some artists take a decade or more between albums. So, individual albums are longer now than they were fifty years ago, but the amount of material being produced when averaged over time is actually much lower. To use your example of The Rolling Stones, in the late 60's they were probably releasing around two records per year, probably at around 35 minutes each, so they were releasing 70 minutes of material per year. So, since the CD era started (let's say 1986 to choose a year that the Stones released an album) up until 2023 (when they released their most recent studio album), they've only released 7 studio albums. This averages out to around 53 minutes per year (and I'm actually pretty shocked that the number is that high). For a slightly more modern example, how about the popular prog-metal band Tool. Their first record came out in 1992 and their most recent one came out in 2019. In that time period, their average of new studio material released is only 15.55 minutes per year. Compare this to the early years of King Crimson (one of Tool's biggest influences) at an average of 56.66 minutes of material per year.

XTC released two amazing double albums, English Settlement and Oranges & Lemons. In terms of creativity and eclecticism, I think Oranges & Lemons is the double album that reminds me the most of The White Album.

Something else about Blonde on Blonde was Dylan's decision to fill the 4th side with one song. Other double albums followed the pattern of putting the more adventurous material on the second disk: Freak Out, Tago Mago, Electric Ladyland, and the White Album.

I really enjoyed your presentation, very well researched and constructed. Very rarely do I see podcasts such as yours. I'm subscribed. Kudos, Sir!

Double Nickels is phenomenal. Great choice.

Still don't understand how Billy Joel killed it

Todd Rundgrens double albums are my favourite

Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Topographic Oceans, Physical Graffiti, Exile On Main Street, Tago Mago. But there's so many live doubles I love. Keith Jarrett at Köln, Allman Brothers at Fillmore East, Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus...

Something/Anything by Todd Rundgren deserves a mention

Mesmerize/hypnotize aren't TECHNICALLY a double album with its release, but it basically is. That and the wall are my favorites

I like to think that, in a parallel universe, Van Halen's "Diver Down" was the second record on a double set. It's less than a half hour long and covers a lot of musical bases; perfect for a half of a double set. The missing first record would have included funky country, Dave-jazz, aggressive metal-punk, and shots at 50s, 60s, & 70s rock n roll, plus an awesome instrumental with a spoken word Dave section. Yeah, I've thought about this a lot.

Interesting video, great points well made. Definitely agree with Quadrophenia and London Calling, though like many others I was shouting “Songs in the key of life!” at the screen haha

My favourite double album of all time is “Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of War Of The Worlds” from 1978. Favourite cover art too. I also love “22 Dreams” by Paul Weller from 2008.

Good to see you back making videos. For some reason RU-vid didn't notify me. Use Your Illusion I and II is indeed bloated, yet I often find myself returning to many of the songs. It was a confusing album when it came out as there wasn't a knock-out song like Sweet Child, but many good songs that could have been one normal double album. One of my favourite double albums is Being There by Wilco, though I only experienced it on tape. Over 76 minutes of music. It took me ages to appreciate and then all of a sudden every song on that album became suburb.

Holy shit. I love double nickles on the dime so much. I also love that more than likely Mike and George are getting royalties from MTV for Jackass into their twilight years for Corona... off of DNOTD.

I love this channel. It feels like you went in for some extra help in a musicology class and then got on this amazing side tangent.

OK, sold me on your list. I’m gonna check a lot of those out that I’ve never actually listened to specially Minuteman.

So you’re blaming Billy Joel for the creation of CDs?? That makes total sense. Maybe blame Sony?

Prince- Sign O’ the Times. Everyone will say Purple Rain is his best, but man does SOTT have deeper moments in my eyes. Sad it wasn’t on the list but you’re right, so many great double albums to choose from!

Because I'm a *nerd* I'm going to say that my favourite double album is the soundtrack to Disney’s Fantasia - spread over 4 records (2 CDs), the 1990 VHS was one of my first true musical loves. You need a 101 minutes to enjoy it all, but its magic to put on the cans and stare out a train window on a long commute.

Can's Tago Mago and Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica deserves a shout here, both shockingly ahead of their time

Hmmm, which ROCK artist released the most double albums? Zappa is certainly a contender as he started with a double album and had 8 or 9 more before CDs took over.

This may be the best rock and roll record commentary I've ever seen on RU-vid. And I've been here a long time.

We have seen the same thing with movies. The truly long movies from years ago, such as "Lawrence of Arabia," were masterpieces that had something to say, but movies that run long today ("Avatar," etc.) are simply bloated. Here's another way to think about: constraints can lead to great art and innovations, but a lack of constraints can simply lead to a mess.

Great countdown list. Double Nickles on the Dime is a phenomenal album (I also would have accepted Zen Arcade).

Though I don't necessarily think if it as their best work, Fleetwood Mac's TUSK is on my list. Props to Lindsey for having the guts/hubris to push the band into doing something that was NOT a rehash of RUMOURS (an album which I love, btw).

When CD's came along, some double albums fit on a single CD. Exile, Blonde on Blond, Goodbye Yellow Brick, Tommy and London Calling were all released as single CD's. Younger listeners may not even think of these as double albums. Back in the vinyl days the added production costs of double albums were offset by being sold at a higher price. Quite frankly, during the early days of the CD era the biggest rip off was maintaining a 2-disc format when the album could have fit on one (I'm talking to you Beatles Red album). In the CD era, some double sets (Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie) were actually triple albums on vinyl.

Nine Inch Nails “The Fragile” was certainly a double album that really felt like it wanted to present itself that way in the era of overlong cds. It was never going to live up to its own hype that was generated at the time and suffered the same problem that I think a lot of double albums do and that’s “filler” songs in the midst of an artist asking you to take them very seriously. Making a double album of all classics is rare. The White Album and The Wall actually pull it off. Also I have to mention I love Zeppelin but I’ve always found it odd that people rate Physical Graffiti so high. I’ve always felt the songs on Graffiti lack the passion and creativity of their earlier work. They no longer sound young and dangerous but rich and comfortable and one great song is not enough for me to rate it as their best. Thats my opinion anyway.

My two favorite double albums are Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything and ELO's Out of the Blue.

Freak Out! by Zappa/Mothers was released 7 days after Blonde On Blonde, so it's also very prototypical...

Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation is probably my fav

Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The Boss The River. Fleetwood Mac Tusk. Great Vid By The Way

You hit upon another example of the great McLuhan principle...indeed, the medium is the message.

Tons of "double albums" released in the CD era, 90s and early 00s when I was a teenager saw a lot of rock bands release albums that are an hour long...or more. They just were on a single CD so not thought of as a double album. Now, lots of pop and hip hop artists release records that are 16+ tracks or more and pushing an hour. Taylor Swift and Beyonce, etc....long albums, double and triple vinyls....The streaming era is a tricky one for the traditional double album, I think. A lot of rock bands may feel like 40 minutes or 10-12 tracks per album is enough and save any other songs for future albums or singles/b-sides. This I agree with! 35-50 minutes is usually perfect for most bands.... Separate releases on streaming help streaming totals overall, so the more releases you have on Spotify, for instance, the better chance of being found by new listeners, so loading tons of songs on one release is not as effective as splitting that up into two albums, or one album + singles...

In the country world double albums are dominating the charts. 25+ songs is somewhat common practice. After about 20 from even my favorite artists I’m ready to be done

You are really going to give credit to Dylan for the first double LP for pre dating Zappa's first double LP by 4 days, even though both were already packaged and ready to go the week before AND Zappas was an actual concept album AND his debut? Really?

I want to congratulate you on this video. Great topic, perhaps no one under 40 cares, but a lot of people relate based on the views and the comments. Psychologically, it was a huge difference from a CD 10 years later that had just as many minutes of music. As a 15 year old it really was a treasure that you spent all your allowance money on. You wanted to bring it to school and show it off to your friends. You wanted to learn the unfamiliar songs that didn't get radio airplay. The package itself was cool, even without an opportunity to play it. The sides themselves were intriging. Some went 1-2, 3-4, while others were 1-4, 2-3, so you only had to flip it once. I had one of those crappy stereos that dropped one record on top of the other. Every other kid had a turntable, but I was stuck with that relic. "The Wall" was a very dark, heavy album that was hard to listen to from start to finish even for Floyd fans. But one side served up just the teen angst you needed. Of course you had a favorite side that you hit a lot and others less often. Great memories!

Agree, the age of CD’s caused a lot of bloated albums.

Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Chicago Transit Authority, and Fleetwood Mac did pretty well with double albums...

Tusk (Fleetwood Mac), Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder) and The River (Springsteen) are all excellent. If you want to include live double albums you get a big group of great records like At Flilmore East (Allman Bros), The Song Remains the Same (Led Zeppelin) and One For Road (Kinks) among many more. If you care to sneak in a triple album, go for All Things Must Pass (Harrison) or The Last Waltz (The Band) Great topic! So glad you mentioned Bitches Brew...Thanks

Oh man, just discovered your channel. Love this deep dive. So good! Never thought about Blonde on Blonde being the first double album before. So cool

Thank You for including Miles Davis Bitches Brew. More ears need to hear that masterpiece.

Correction: The original vinyl issue of Cure's Disintegration was a single LP. They left out two tracks which were marked on the CD as bonus tracks. Later issues were double albums with all tracks.

Robert, Double Nickels on the Dime refers to driving 55 mph on the 10 freeway. Mike even has the freeway sign and the speedometer in the photo.

Scrolled through a bunch of comments and didn't see Layla And Assorted Love Songs. I forgot to add this to my top 10 previously. Absolutely great album headline by a great band featuring Duane Allman

Maybe the Billy Joel thing was meant as a joke, but if Joel hadn't existed, Sony would have just chosen a record by a different artist to have been their first CD. If I'm not mistaken, Songs in the Key of Life wasn't mentioned anywhere in the video, and I think it's one of the very best examples of a double album being an artist's peak, along with Blonde on Blonde, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, London Calling, and Daydream Nation (and probably Double Nickels on the Dime too). I have no problem with the White Album at #7, as I think that The Beatles peak is Rubber Soul and Revolver, and I also prefer A Hard Day's Night and Abbey Road to the White Album. There are also examples of double albums clearly not being the artist's peak: Dylan's self-portrait, Elton's Blue Moves, Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. Though I do think that Tusk is better than some people give it credit for.

Thanks for this nice retrospective on double albums and thanks especially for giving much love to The Minutemen’s masterpiece ! When I was a teen a double album usually meant I would be investing some extra time submerged in an album with headphones on . I knew the artist was spending extra effort making a multilayered or multidimensional experience. From your list of top ten I would have these on my list : - Sonic Youth / Daydream Nation - Miles Davis / Bitches Brew - The Clash / London Calling ~ But especially : - The Minutemen / Double Nickels On The Dime , this one is a masterpiece. These are what I would round out as some of my favorites: - Public Image Ltd. / Second Edition - Bongwater / Double Bummer - The Clash / Sandinista (triple) - Prince / Sign o’ the Times - XTC / English Settlement There are some albums from the past 25 years but like you pointed out, a long album today is just a long album - it doesn’t quite have the magic of a double album from 40, 50 or 60 years ago.

Good video! Rolling Stones Exile is the best!

My current favorite album is a double album, on vinyl of course, by The War on Drugs: A Deeper Understanding. In the last week I've listened to it all the way through three times (with some extra spins for Side 3 with "Thinking of a Place." I started buying albums when I started my sophomore year of high school in 1968. SO, in a matter of four months I'm buying newly released albums by Cream (Wheels of Fire), Electric Ladyland, Uncle Meat (The Mothers) and the White Album. So, yes, it seems I've always loved double albums. So my Top Ten Double Album List (for this week): 1. A Deeper Understanding - The War on Drugs 2. Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Jimi's guitar playing makes the Noel song listenable) 3. The White Album - every track makes the album what it is, warts and all 4. Third - Soft Machine - always a favorite, still gets lots of plays and with many titles in this list, some repurchases on vinyl (always a reliable signpost) 5. Exile on Main Street - they sort of lost me after Mick Taylor left but like many of these albums, an enjoyable sprawl. 6. Layla.... was a huge Clapton fan, not so much these days, but you still can't discount his influence on blues/rock guitar sound 7. Something/Anything - Todd Rundgren - an audacious pop/rock masterpiece 8. Uncle Meat - The Mothers (of Invention) I felt like I had grown as a listener when I learned to love this and Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band 9. Oranges and Lemons - XTC The Brits' analogous of Something/Anything (Todd also produced, under fractious circumstances, XTC's wonderful Skylarking) 10. Tie: all the other albums on Robert's list Honorable mention: Wheels of Fire , Ummagumma and Living the Blues (each is one-half live, but still great or interesting double-albums) Tanz der Lemmings by Amon Duul II Chicago Transit Authority Back to the Roots - John Mayall Blood Sugar Sex Magic - Red Hot Chili Peppers Nonesuch - XTC =-Andy Partridge is the prolific resident genius, but Colin Moulding is the secret weapon Extra Special Honorable Mention: Weird Scenes Inside the Gold - a compilation that fully demonstrates what The Doors were all about. If you were only going to listen to one Doors album, this would be it. Robert, this is only video of yours I've seen so far. So I'm looking forward to seeing some more. Well done!

Big World by Joe Jackson - a double album with only 3 sides. The last side had no grooves on it. The idea being that JJ wanted to release a longer format album without sacrificing sound quality by cramming all of the tracks onto 2 sides. Nothing Like The Sun by Sting did something similar by stretching the tracks over 4 short sides. Too expensive to do eventually!

So HAPPY SST and Husker Du and the Minutemen got some double album love from RRC!

I’ve watched carefully several times and rewound to the Billy Joel section specially three times. I still don’t see how Billy Joel, himself, or his record company, killed double albums.

52nd street was one of my very first records

Here's the difference between a 70-minute double LP and a 70-minute single CD. The LP breaks it up into 4 individual acts that give the album structure (even when listening on CD). Each side has to be thought of as a self-contained entity and as part of the whole. Think about Chicago II with its individual suites. Think about debating what side of the White Album is the best (the correct answer is side 1). A 70-minute single CD is more easily put together as just a single stream of tracks lasting for 70 minutes.

Just discovered your channel. Great informative video. I hadn't realised the problem of listening to classical music before the LP. My favourite double album : "Wee Tam and the BIg Huge" . - The Incredible String Band. - 1968. It was released as two separate LPs so that people who were short of money could buy the albums separately. Wee Tam is the man in the street, the individual. The Big Huge is the universe, the cosmos.

also, I think it's arguable that "Axis, Bold As Love" is Hendrix' strongest album.

That dissolve from Bob's BOB cover into your face was aligned very well, mate

Stephen Stills' Manassas deserves a callout.

You earned a subscription naming 'Double Nickels on the Dime' as your favorite! Well played,Sir!

Fantastic video, unfortunately frank zappas mothers of inventions album 'Freak Out' was the first Rock n roll double album, not Bob dylans blonde on blonde

Anyone who loves Quebec is someone I love. All the best and cheers!

The Who: Quadrophenia. The Kinks: Preservation Act 2 Frank Zappa & The MOI: Freak Out Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti Capt. Beefheart: Trout Mask Replica

The Bee Gees' "Odessa" from 1969 is regarded as their best pre-1975 work.

Bro skipped ELOs Out Of The Blue for no reason

I consider Teenager Of The Year an all time great double album. Nice vid. Love Double Nickels being at the top. Also, don't apologize for the White Album. It's sublime.

Definitely not my favorite, but I was hoping you would mention Self Portrait. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8Y8YVHRM03g.html Honorable mentions that I don't see in other comments so far include: Freak Out! The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Frampton Comes Alive (assuming live records count)

There are still many double albums being made and reissued as cds allowed for up to 80 minute albums!

Ummagumma?

aside from choosing double nickels over zen arcade, this entire video is spot on. job well done. and Tales from Topographic Oceans just to be a prog snob.

No Frank Zappa in the top ten? I’m in the wrong room.

I am one of those who loves The Beatles White double album, as there is only one song I don't like on it (Wild Honey Pie). My two favourite double albums of all time would be Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978), and Lost in the New Real by Arjen Lucassen (2012).

The compact disc was invented in Japan where there is a big tradition of listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on New Year's Day. Soit is no coincidence the CD was designed to accommodate even the slowest playing of the Ninth on one side.

Great video ! Double albums were such a treat to me. I remember being thrilled finding Yoko Ono's "Fly"in the cutouts.

Chicago's first album, Chicago Transit Authority. I wore out my copy in a year and went out and bought another copy! I still listen to it.

Quadrophenia.... Townshend's concept tells a complete story from beginning to end, which is just as powerful as watching the movie

Awesome video have a great weekend Robert and also happy first week of October ❤😊

Great video. Really well edited and put together and engaging. There have been some great double albums - not just long CDs - released after the golden age like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by OutKast, and 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields, but we don't really get as many as we used to from major artists in the 21st century. I guess streaming kinda filled the point of double albums since albums can be however long as they want now. Isn't Saturday Night Fever the best-selling double album of all time, technically? I know it's a soundtrack album, but it was released as a double album. The Wall is the best-selling studio double album of all time definitely.

Here's my 7 favourite studio double albums, un-ranked, just these are my top favourite 7 and that I've listened to the most repeatedly. Couldn't get to 10; Quadrophenia - The Who The Wall - Pink Floyd London Calling - The Clash Zen Arcade - Husker Du Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins Berkley to Bakersfield - Cracker The Undertaking - Strippers Union(Rob Baker of TTH & Craig Northey of The Odds side project)

3:58 ONE week after Blonde on Blonde, Frank Zappa and the Mothers released Freak Out, which was a double concept album and still one of the most fresh, challenging, and unique today. Ton of people listing Stevie here, but on the opposite side of the tonal spectrum I wanna mention Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and Get up With it. They're both frantically abrasive, deeply reflective, important and contemplative works of art. The later especially doesn't get the recognition it deserves, its a legendary influence on atmospheric music and no way in hell Industrial music hasn't been inspired by it.